I'm Emma Kate. I've been a decorative painter for 25 years and now I'm trying my hand at DIY. I live in a picturesque market town in Hertfordshire, England. I have a passion for upcycling vintage furniture, home decor and secondhand shopping.

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Monday, 23 February 2015

Another long absence as I took my daughter up to York for half term. The Viking Festival was in full swing with Viking folk wandering the streets en masse. At least I think they were all Vikings. With the current trend for bushy facial hair, it's often hard to tell. We visited the Jorvik Viking Museum where you go back in time and travel through a 'real' Viking village, even passing through their homes. If you have kids and are up that way, it's a must. We also visited the York Dungeon and Connie was thrilled to have achieved that when it's recommended for 10 year olds and she's only 8.

She spotted a man trying on evening dresses in Long Tall Sally which led to an interesting conversation.

We also squeezed in a bit of chazzing but found very little. I did score this little Topshop tweed waistcoat though...

I love, love, love tweed but it's hard to wear without looking like Miss Marple. One of my many struggles in life I'm afraid.

The car boot sale at Murton proved more fruitful and I found a peg rail to use in the kitchen for £1.

One day, when I finish the kitchen, this will hold my pretty aprons. That reminds me, I never showed you what became of my hymn board which is now in use as a tea towel holder with the addition of some iron hooks...

Ta daa!It took me forever as the screws on the hooks were deeper than the wood so I had to find a thin piece of wood to go behind it and stain it to match... How very dull.

Now, the two empty spaces are usually filled with number cards turned back to front with our important phone numbers on them. I took them out for the photo in case any of you are psychopaths. Who might want to phone my dentist. Or something.

Back to shopping...I saved the best for last...

At our local car boot sale, I spotted this alligator effect suitcase. I reckon it might be forties or fifties? The boot sales often have old luggage but I hadn't seen an alligator one before so I snapped it up for £4. (No pun intended.)

It had clearly seen better days so I set about bringing it back to life with a tin of shoe polish.

It struck me as interesting that the alligator effect had dried out in the creases though. Almost like a real skin would do. And here it is after a little, okay a LOT of polishing...

Good as new eh? I wonder if it might be real alligator after all. A vintage alligator case must be worth a bit more than £4 right? Whatever, it makes a stylish place to store things. Wishing you fruitful chazzing, thrifting, op-shopping or car booting in your part of the world until next time.

Thursday, 5 February 2015

The good... I've taken LOADS of stuff to the charity shop this week and I've been rewarded with very good chazzing karma.

I found this very flattering (if I hold my tummy in) dress for under £7.

It looked so nice and I'd not heard of the label (Damsel in a Dress) so I looked it up. Their dresses sell for £150! I'm chuffed to bits. I cannot imagine spending £150 on a dress. Even my wedding dress was a third of that!

More good... I had a parcel from a lovely and incredibly talented lady called Kathleen who I 'met' through my blog and she has MADE me this stunning hand hooked rug!

It's Bobby and Freddy! It's a really tiny rug so it's meant to be hung on a wall. Thank you so much Kathleen. I love the muted colours and appreciate how much work has gone into it.

She also made a little chalkboard with a silver dish. The writing got a little smudged as it made it's way across the pond but I wanted to show you as it's such a simple and effective idea. I feel blessed indeed.

As if that weren't enough, I managed to find my fifth Barbola mirror at the flea market for only £8.

It's also the largest and the most beautiful one I have. Hopefully it'll be a kick up the pants for me to choose a wall and display them!

More good... we finally had a bit of proper snow that settled. Instead of tackling my endless list of things to do, I declared it a snow day and wondered if I could make a snowman that looked like Olaf from Frozen.

I found myself googling images, printing them, painting lemons white and sculpting snow with scissors and a spoon.
Yeah. Like a total saddo. I even cut specific rose branches that looked right for his arms. (Meg, I can feel your horror from the other side of the world.)

A bit of felt and some pipe cleaners and hey presto...

Sadly it thawed too fast and his head fell off before Connie (who was not having a snow day) managed to come home and see it. Leading quite nicely onto...

The bad...

You know those Air Wick plug in fragrances? Well, I bought a couple and I quite liked them. Jason however says they make him nauseous and keeps unplugging them. Then ultimately they get knocked over and the oil spills out. This is what happened on my lovely new kitchen windowsill and the oil has melted the paint. It's going to be a nightmare to get this smoothed over!

But I did wonder, if the oil can strip hardwearing paint, what are those airborne particles doing to our lungs? Something else for the charity shop then...

More bad... I had an accident with my dresser which resulted in the loss of two bits of ironstone.

The little one, I don't think I even showed you yet, but it was a very recent acquisition that I got for 50p.

It's all because, when I finished the dresser I never added the little strips of wood to hold the standing plates in place. I cut them and I think I even primed them but I have no idea where I put them! I've been through the obvious places and they aren't there. I guess I'll have to cut more. Falling plates do a lot of damage. This is what happens when you only finish a job 99% and move on to something else. I do that all the time.

And the ugly? I finished the corner cabinet. But until it leaves this house I'm not showing you.
Sorry!